Thursday, April 13, 2017

Rules For Boarding A Train With Unreserved Ticket

TRAIN TRAVEL WITHOUT RESERVATION

Some time, we are required to travel at short notice and we are not able to get even Tatkal ticket. In such situations, we buy unreserved ticket from railway ticket counters and start our journey. You should be aware of the INDIAN RAILWAYS RULES for boarding a train under these conditions at originating and intermediate stations, as explained below.

You can board the train with an RAC ticket. You will be provided with sitting accommodation initially and allotted a berth (in case of passengers not turning up) in the train.

Waitlisted ticket passenger are not permitted to board the reserved coaches if there ticket is not confirmed at the time of preparation of chart, since no berth/ seat has been reserved for his use in these coaches. Such passengers, if found in the reserved coach in an unauthorised way, are detrained at the next stoppage of train, if no vacant berth is available, (due to non turn up of passengers) to accommodate him. As per Section 155 of Railways Act, if any of passenger, enters a compartment wherein no berth/ seat has been reserved for his use or unauthorisedly occupy a berth/ seat reserved for the use of another passengers, refuse to leave, he/ she shall be removed from the berth/ seat/ compartment and be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.

If you don’t have any ticket, you may approach the Train Superintendent/ TTE after purchasing an unreserved ticket from the booking office as specified in the following table. The TTE will allot the accommodation, subject to availability.

If you have a second class ticket and could not get reservation in sleeper class and desire to travel in any upper class, you may approach the on-board ticket checking staff, who can upgrade your ticket accordingly subject to availability of accommodation except in Rajdhani/ Shatabdi Express trains.

The following table shows the Category of Train, Class of Travel, Minimum Class of Ticket required for boarding a train at originating and Intermediate Stations.

Category of Train

Class of Travel

Minimum Class of Ticket required
for boarding the train at originating and Intermediate Stations

Rajdhani/
Shatabdi

IA,
FC, 2A, 3A,

ACC

1st
Class Ordinary

Jan
Shatabdi

ACC
2S

1st
Class Ordinary, 2nd Mail/ Express

Mail/
Express

FC,
IA, 2A, 3A,

CC,
SL, 2S

1st
Class Ordinary, 2nd Mail/ Express

Garib
Rath Express

3A,
CC

2nd
Mail/ Express

Double
Decker

Executive
Class,

AC
Chair Car

1st
Class Ordinary, AC Chair Car ticket

through
UTS

To know the current status of unconfirmed
ticket, you can contact the Reservation Enquiry Counters at your nearest Computerised
Reservation Centre or call the Interactive Voice Response System, available at
major stations. Remember to always quote the 10 digit PNR Number indicated on
the upper left hand corner of your ticket, to find out the current status.

The current status of your ticket
can also be obtained from the Indian Railways Passenger Information Website:
www.indianrailways.gov.in. This site also provides real-time information
relating to availability of seats (and berths in a train even between a pair of
stations), timetable and train fares etc. For general information on Indian
Railways, passengers can access the Indian Railways website:
www.indianrailways.gov.in.